Star Trek:Odyssey 4:Eve of Twilight
by rylansato
Summary: After investigating an anomaly in the Mirai Sector, the crew of the Alexandria find the lost thirteenth fleet from the Dominion War. The explosive destruction of so many varied warp drives has severely distorted the space-time continuum in the sector.
1. The Thirteenth Fleet

Star Trek: Odyssey: Episode: Eve of Twilight

_Captain's Log: Stardate: 57433.2. The Alexandria is currently en route to the Mirai Sector to investigate disturbances caused by an unknown source. At this point we do not know anything about these disturbances but they are beginning to affect the entire systems. _

"We're approaching the Mirai Sector, sir." Alex Merriell said.

"Slow to impulse." Captain Allensworth ordered.

"Sir, I'm picking up multiple vessels on the other side of the Mirai star." Merriell said.

"What kind of vessels?"

"Unable to tell right now. However, I'm unable to pick up and life signs or power readings."

"Set a course."

"Aye, sir." Kit Moran said from the Helm.

Minutes later, the Sovereign class ship rounded the star's corner to where the readings were originating.

"We're in visual range." Fulks said.

"On screen."

The bulkhead shimmered away to reveal something they never expected; a starship grave hard. Allensworth rose slowly from his chair without taking his eyes off the screen. Sparhawk and Nycz followed suite.

"What in the…?" Sparhawk asked.

"It would appear that not all of dead were retrieved from the Dominion War." Allensworth said as he stepped closer to the screen. "The Virginia, the Atlantic, the Micord, the Athena, the Kearsarge, the Seattle. If I didn't know any better, I'd say we were looking at the long lost thirteenth fleet."

"I read about the thirteenth fleet." Zofchak said from his engineering station along the left side of the bridge. "They were sent out on a secret mission but never heard from again."

"Why is the graveyard still here?" Nycz asked. "Shouldn't have someone come and retrieved the dead after the war?"

"Normally yes, but we never heard from the thirteenth fleet again. It looks like the Dominion suffered heavy losses in this battle as well." Sparhawk said.

"I thought the Cardassians were honorable enough to retrieve their own?" Merriell asked.

"They are but it would appear that this battle had no survivors." Allensworth said.

"No survivors? How could that be?" Nycz asked.

"Well, we may find out while were here. But first we need to find out what is causing the anomaly."

"Sir, sensors say the center of the disturbance is in the center of the graveyard." Merriell said.

Allensworth's lips thinned. "Put the shields up and go to yellow alert."

"Shields up, sir." Fulks said.

"Take us in, nice and slow, Lieutenant."

"Aye, sir." Moran said as she entered the commands into her console.

The Alexandria moved slowly through the graveyard. The bridge crew watched as they passed multiple derelicts.

"Looks like surrender was not an option here." Sparhawk said.

"We're nearing the center, sir." Merriell said.

"Full stop."

"Sir, sensors are detecting a rift off the port bow." Merriell said.

"On screen."

A large, blue-green field shifted in and out of visual range like ripples against a dark pond.

"I'm reading quantum level manipulation of the space time continuum through the field." Merriell said. "Gravimetric forces are getting stronger and starting to pull us in."

"Helm, back us off, full impulse," said Allensworth, reseating himself in the center seat.

"Aye, sir. Full reverse. No effect," Moran. "We're not moving away from it."

"Distance to the event horizon?"

"Nine hundred kilometers. Eight-fifty," Merriell said. "Damn, it's getting stronger. Seven hundred."

"Zofchak, can we go to warp?"

"We need to veer the bow off so we can point the ship away from the rift."

"Helm, hard starboard."

"Sir, the helm is not responding."

"Three hundred kilometers, Captain."

"Red alert. Full power to shields."

"Two hundred. One hundred."

Allensworth called out into the air. "All hands, brace for impact."

The Alexandria and its crew were pulled into the rift.

Captain Trip Tucker stood behind the navigator on the bridge of the Enterprise. The ship was taking a beating from the Xindi. The Intrepid had just lost its port nacelle and was backing off. It was now just the Enterprise and the Neptune class ship. He wasn't sure if they were going to get out of this one. A beeping came from tactical.

"Our forward shields are collapsing." Reed said.

Tucker really didn't want to hear that. Then a beeping came from his left at Hoshi's station.

"Hull breaches on B deck. C deck." Hoshi called not looking away from her station.

Then, another set of beeping filled the havoc filled bridge.

"They're targeting the bridge." Reed said with urgency.

Hoshi looked over to Reed then to Trip with a very concerned look on her face hoping that the readings were wrong. Trip had to think fast to try and avoid the bridge being destroyed.

"Hard to port." Trip ordered.

Once again, another set of beeps sounded.

"Sir, there's another ship coming in." Reed said. "It's…it's…I don't know. It says the ship is called Alexandria."

The bridge crew of the NX-01 watched as the giant Sovereign class Alexandria swooped into the scene.

"Lock phasers on the Xindi ships and fire." Allensworth ordered.

The two ends of the phaser array glowed and moved towards each other and fired once they met. The Insectoid Xindi ship had no chance to survive. After three seconds of being hit with the Type 12 phaser beam the ship exploded. The Reptilian Xindi ship came in and fired across its bow, the Xindi's weapons did little to no damage against the starship's shields.

"Fire photon torpedoes."

The Alexandria fired three photon torpedoes from its aft launcher on its saucer section. Two of the torpedoes struck the ship sending it spiraling out of control.

"The Reptilian Xindi ship is disabled, sir." Fulks said. "The other Xindi ships are moving off."

"Hail the Enterprise, Mr. Merriell."

Merriell pressed a few buttons and to Allensworth's surprise, he saw Trip Tucker instead of Jonathan Archer. He had no idea what was going on why the Enterprise was fighting the Xindi and why Tucker was in charge of the Enterprise. History never recorded a battle in this area. Guess there was time for questions later.

"This is Captain Jermaine Allensworth of the Federation Starship Alexandria. Can we be of assistance?"


	2. Tired of These Guys

_Captain's Log: Supplemental. Due to a disturbance caused by a thought to be non existent Dominion battle site, we've ended up in the past and in a time that never happened according to history. A time where Earth was destroyed, six thousand humans remain of the species, the Enterprise NX-01 was in a battle with the Xindi and Charles Trip Tucker was in command instead of Jonathan Archer. We've invited the command crew to beam over and talk with us about what has changed. It would appear that both sides will have to explain how they've ended up here._

Allensworth stood up from his seat at the head of the filled for once conference table. The guests from the Enterprise had taken up six of the seats leaving the other six to be filled by Allensworth, Sparhawk, Merriell, Nycz, Plumley and Zofchak. Fulks was left standing.

"So, you're telling me that the Xindi destroyed Earth and you all were residing in the Ceti Alpha system?"

Trip nodded his head. "That's correct, Captain."

_Even if humanity survived against the Xindi, Ceti Alpha V would be suffering the consequences following the destruction of Ceti Alpha VI._

Allensworth put that thought aside and came back to issue at hand.

"So what happened that caused Captain Archer to be relieved of command?" Allensworth asked.

"Twelve years ago," T'Pol began. "Captain Archer suffered an injury from a spatial anomaly that affected his hippocampus and was unable to form long term memories. I was then put in command of the Enterprise. I stepped down from my commission and Tucker took over."

Allensworth thought about the information he was just given for a moment as Zofchak spoke up.

"History records different events from your voyages. It was mentioned that a spatial anomaly did slide through Enterprise but Archer only suffered a concussion."

"Captain Archer," Allensworth said. "I'd like you to see Dr. Plumley to undergo some brain scans."

"Actually, Captain." Phlox said. "We've figured out how to get rid of these parasites. These parasites reside outside time and space and we've already performed part of the procedure and according to our scans, the parasites we eliminated only hours ago disappeared from the scans that I took twelve years ago. I'd like to finish the procedure."

"Certainly. Do whatever it takes. If there is any thing you need on this ship, our facilities are open to you."

Phlox nodded in thanks with his non Denobulan smile.

"That answers the question in why the change in the timeline but we still don't have an answer for why we were sent here instead of into the past."

"I have a theory, sir." Zofchak said. "It could be similar to when Captain Kirk and his crew entered the parallel universe."

"Can you explain more on that?"

"I think maybe due to the destruction of multiple varied warp drives so it had an effect on that region of space and sent us into a parallel universe where Captain Archer was relieved of command and."

Allensworth nodded in acceptance of the theory. He then realized he had to inform his guests on how they arrived in this time.

He opened his mouth but it was cut off by Kell Perim's voice coming over the comm.

"Sorry for the interruption, Captain but long range sensors picked up a vessel on an intercept course."

"Is it the Xindi?" He asked.

"Negative, sir."

Allensworth could sense the hesitation and urgency in her voice. He really couldn't imagine any real threat from this century that would put them at extreme danger. But then again this was an alternate timeline and anything could happen.

"What kind of ship is it, Lieutenant?" Allensworth asked calmly.

"It's a cubed shaped ship, sir."

That was unexpected. The eyes of the Alexandria senior staff widened. The Enterprise crew really wasn't sure what was going on. Apparently the Alexandria crew knew of a species in cubed shaped vessles.

"What? How?" Sparhawk asked.

"They shouldn't even know that humanity even exists yet. Not until the Enterprise-D runs into them at System J-25." Zofchak said.

"We'll figure all of that out later. But until then we need to be ready for their arrival." Allensworth said getting up from his chair. "Red alert, all hands battlestations." He said as he walked out of the room and onto the bridge.

"Time to intercept?" Allensworth asked.

"Forty-two minutes." Perim said getting up from the command chair.

_Why are they headed here? They weren't even aware of humanity until they encountered the Enterprise-D. It didn't make any sense that they'd be in the Alpha Quadrant at this point in time. Humanity is an easier target now than it was before Earth was destroyed._

_I'm really tired of dealing with the Borg. _Allensworth thought as he sat down and the senior staff took their respective stations. The dark skinned captain could sense the uneasiness from the Enterprise command crew. They had no idea what was going on and were probably going to be even more lost once the Borg arrived.

"Captain Tucker, are your weapon systems online?"

"No, they were damaged during the battle."

"Zofchak, I want you to lead an engineering team over to the Enterprise and help them get their weapons and shield systems online. We're going to need all the help we can get against the Borg."

"Aye, sir." Zofchak said getting up from his seat at the Engineering station. He tapped his comm. badge as he headed for the turbolift. "Alpha team, assemble in transporter room three."

The turbolift doors closed as Allensworth kept his gaze fixed on the screen waiting for the inevitable encounter with the Borg.


	3. Arrival

Three Xindi ships flew through space in retreat from their defeat at the hands of the Alexandria. Two Insectoid ships and one Reptilian ship that led the way. Their route became blocked by a cubical ship. They stopped their movement and readied themselves for an attack. Without warning the cubed ship spawned three tractor beams simultaneously grabbing the three Xindi ships before they had time to react. Despite their best efforts they had no chance against the Borg tractor beam. Shortly after they tractor beamed the ships they let them go and let them drift away empty and lifeless.

The Alexandria's alpha engineering team worked as fast as they could before the arrival of the Borg cube. Even Captain Tucker helped with repairs. No one knew these engines better than he. Main Engineering of the NX class ship was small compared to that of a Sovereign class ship. That didn't come to much surprise to Zofchak as he and his crew worked to get weapons online. He knew that NX class starships of this time didn't have much shielding but this ship had its shield systems modified thanks to General Shran of the Andorians. He and Lieutenant Commander Sonya Gomez worked side by side to repair the damaged plasma injector. He had worked with Gomez since the days of the Enterprise-D and E. He even worked with her when they helped repair the Phoenix so that Zefram Cochrane could make his warp flight. Then his mind shifted to when he came back aboard the Enterprise to find it in disarray from the Borg assimilation attempt. He lost a few friends in that encounter. Gomez looked over to her superior officer with concern.

"Commander? Are you ok?" She asked.

Her voice snapped him back to the present. He slightly turned his head and looked at her almost out of the corner of his eye. "Yeah, I'm fine, Sonya. I'm just tired of dealing with the Borg. It seems that everywhere we go; we always deal with them in some way or another. It still boggles my mind that the Borg are on their way here. It doesn't make any sense. You were on the Enterprise when they made first contact with the Borg at System J-25. We shouldn't be dealing with them in the twenty-second century. It was only when they traveled back in time 2063 was when we dealt with them prior to 2365."

"But this is a different timeline. The NX oh one never had a battle with the Xindi here and Captain Archer never had this problem with his long term memories." Gomez said.

"That is true but the Borg were still in the Delta Quadrant during this time so I doubt that any events that took place here would have any effect on any event in the Delta Quadrant." Zofchak countered.

"There is a saying that the flap of a butterfly's wings in Brazil sets off a Tornado in Texas."

"Oh, you're talking about Chaos Theory or The Butterfly Effect as some would like to refer to it."

"Yeah. Because of the events that happened in this timeline could've affected the events in the Delta Quadrant thus causing a Borg ship to be headed this way."

"That is possible but I'm still not convinced."

Suddenly, Zofchak felt the slight vibration of his comm. badge kicking on. "Allensworth to Zofchak."

"Go ahead. Zofchak here."

"The Borg are less than two minutes away. I want you and your team to remain on the Enterprise to get their weapons systems online. We'll cover you for as long as we can."

"Aye, sir. Zofchak out."

Dustin always got a bit nervous when he dealt with the Borg. He was never sure if he would remain an individual or be assimilated into the collective. He looked over to Sonya whose look could've been a bit more pleasant. "Looks like we'll be over here a bit longer." He said as if it were a punishment.

"Sheilds up, arm phasers, quantum and photon torpedoes."

"Captain, the Borg cube has entered visual range." Merriell said.

"On screen." Allensworth said as he stood up from his command chair.

The bulkhead shimmered out of existence to be replaced by an image of the Borg cube.

"This one seems smaller than the other ones I've seen." Sparhawk said.

"Likewise. It does seem smaller than what we're used to. Maybe they're this size in the twenty-second century."

"Yeah but they're probably just as deadly." Nycz said from her seat.

"Captain, we're being hailed by the Enterprise."

"On screen."

The screen switched over to the image of Captain Tucker.

"Captain, is that the ship that has you all worried?"

"Yes it is, Captain. They're called the Borg. I'll explain more about them when we get out of this fight."

"You say that as if we're definitely going to beat this thing."

"I've got a card up my sleeve in case we can't use conventional weapons against them. I also want the Enterprise to stay back until your weapons on back online. You don't want to face the Borg without weapons."

"Alright then," Tucker said in his southern twang. "I'll see you after the battle then. Tucker out."

The view screen switched to the image of the incoming vessel. The Borg ship approached the two vessels.

"Captain, we're being hailed." Merriell said.

Allensworth stood at the center of the bridge. The view screen switched from its view of the Borg ship to the inside of the Borg cube.

"WE ARE THE BORG. LOWER YOUR SHIELDS AND SURRENDER YOUR SHIPS. WE WILL ADD YOUR BIOLOGICAL AND TECHNILOGICAL DISTINCTIVENESS TO OUR OWN. YOUR CULTURE WILL ADAPT TO SERVICE US. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE."

Tucker and the rest of his bridge crew listened to the message sent to them. Tucker thought for a moment.

"Where have we heard that before?" He asked.

Allensworth continued to stare at the view screen and without taking his eyes off it he delivered an order.

"Mr. Fulks, fire."


	4. The Reason They're Here Now

The Borg cube was quickly repairing itself after the holes blown into it by the Alexandria's weapons. The Borg ship kept trying to lock on to them with their tractor beam but it was no use to the intensity of the Sovereign class shields. Allensworth stood there watching the outcome hoping the weapons would overwhelm the Borg and eventually destroy them.

"Keep at it, Mr. Fulks."

Doing as he was ordered, he kept entering the fire commands into his tactical console. At that moment, Merriell realized something. He turned around in his chair to face his captain.

"Sir, I just realized something."

"What is it, Alex?"

"Sir, the Enterprise doesn't have shields as we do. They have polarized armor that doesn't prevent intruders."

Allensworth's eyes widened.

"Scan the Enterprise and see if there are any Borg intruders."

Merriell quicked entered the commands into the ops console and almost instantly gained results.

"Sir, I'm reading forty-seven humans and forty-two Borg. Scratch that. Make that forty-six humans and forty-three Borg."

"Transporter room, beam all non-assimilated humans aboard." Allensworth said into the air.

"Aye sir." The transporter chief responded.

"Lower shields. Dr. Plumley to transporter room three."

"Aye sir."

The Alexandria lowered its shields and allowed the transporting sequence to go through.

"Do you have them, chief?"

"Yes sir." Chief Stebelton answered.

"Get the shields back up."

"Already up, sir." Fulks replied.

Allensworth figured he didn't have to say it for Fulks to get them back up but he did it anyway.

"Sir, the Borg ship and the Enterprise are moving away."

Allensworth turned his attention back to the view screen. "Looks like they already have control over Enterprise."

"Should we pursue, sir?" Moran asked.

"Follow them, Lieutenant. What is their heading?"

"The course they've set puts them on course to Sector zero, zero, one." Kit replied.

"Earth. Or where Earth used to be. They must be unaware that Earth doesn't exist in this universe." Captain Allensworth said

"You think they would know if they've assimilated Enterprise crewmembers." Sparhawk said.

"According to the Enterprise crew, the rest of humanity is in the Ceti Alpha system." Merriell said.

"There must be another reason why they'd be headed to Sector zero, zero, one. I'll be down talking to the Enterprise crew to try and figure that out. You have the bridge, Commander."

Allensworth walked to the aft bridge and into the turbolift.

Dr. Plumley and her staff treated the wounded which was light. No one was in critical condition. When it came to the Borg, people were either dead or assimilated, rarely was anyone wounded. Allensworth walked into sickbay and looked around the room.

"Can I help you, Captain?" Plumley said walking up to her.

"I need to talk to Captain Tucker."

Plumley was silent and slightly looked away.

"Captain Tucker wasn't part of the group we beamed aboard. Out of the bridge officers, Lieutenant Commander Sato was the only one. We were able to beam Doctor Phlox and T'Pol out of there along with some of their MACO's and other crew personnel not to mention the majority of our Engineering crew."

"Maybe T'Pol might be able to answer my questions then."

Dr. Plumley led Captain Allensworth from the doorway to where T'Pol was standing. She was standing next to Dr. Phlox and Lt. Commander Zofchak. Zofchak noticed the captain and stood straight up. Allensworth noticed Zofchak's movements.

"At ease, Commander."

Zofchak let out a breath and relaxed.

"Sir, just as we brought the weapons back online the Borg beamed in and started assimilating people. We lost a few of our own not to mention some of the Enterprise crew."

Allensworth nodded in understanding.

"T'Pol, the Borg are currently are their way to where Earth used to be. Is there any reason why they would go there even though they should know of its destruction?"

T'Pol shook her head.

"There is one thing that you should know, sir." Phlox said.

"What's that?"

"We've dealt with the Borg before."

This caught everyone else by surprise.

"When?"

"Thirteen years ago."

"Thirteen years ago? How? The Federation never encountered the Borg until twenty three sixty-five."

"These beings match the same beings we encountered when we rescued two Tarkaleans, whom were infected with some sort of virus."

"Captain Archer did say that Zefram Cochrane mentioned a group of cybernetic beings had come to enslave the human race and that they were stopped by a group of humans from the future." T'Pol said.

"That was us." Zofchak said. "I was part of the crew that stopped the Borg then. It could be possible that when we destroyed the Borg sphere that was in Earth's orbit, some of the wreckage crash landed on Earth."

"Before we destroyed their ship, they sent out a message to someplace unknown."

"That message would've taken a few hundred years to reach the Delta Quadrant." Allensworth said.

"Unless they received a message prior to that." Zofchak said.

"How would they've received a message prior?" Sato asked.

"When the Borg traveled back to assimilate Earth in twenty-sixty-three, they assimilated half of the Enterprise-E and had set up an interplexing beacon right on the particle emitter of the deflector dish. After going over the logs of the event, Captain Picard had stated that the beacon was active for a few seconds before being destroyed. Maybe the Borg received that message."

Captain Allensworth pondered the thought. It was feasible. Then the intercom kicked on. It was Alex Merriell's voice.

"Bridge to Captain Allensworth."

"Go ahead."

"Sensors have picked up the Borg cube changing its course and on an intercept course with us. They'll arrive in seventeen minutes."

Allensworth sighed in his thoughts but refused to allow his subordinates to see it. He had to show nothing but confidence especially when going up against the Federation's deadliest adversary.

"Red Alert. All hands battlestations." He said running out the door heading to the bridge.


	5. Destroyed Targeting Sensors

Allensworth faced the viewscreen. The Borg cube had just arrived along with the assimilated Enterprise. As soon as they got within weapons range they opened fire. The Alexandria held her own against the assimilated NX class ship and the Borg cube.

Pitched alarms of struggle surrounded Captain Jermaine Allensworth, who sat in the bridge's command chair, stone-faced and silent, watching and hearing the battle unfold around him.

"Helm, attack pattern Delta! Tactical, target the closer ship and fire at will." Commander Jason Sparhawk said over the thunder of energy blasts hammering the shields of the Alexandria.

A powerful concussion threw the bridge crew to starboard and strobed the lights. A port side console exploded sending out glowing hot bits of smoking debris that landed in Allensworth's lap. He swatted the blackened embers off his thighs as he stood and moved to stand beside Sparhawk. The first officer remained focused on the direction of the battle.

"Hard to port." He said as Kit Moran scrambled back into her chair. He turned to Fulks. "Ready aft torpedoes!" As Jason turned again, Merriell switched the main view screen to display the ship's retreating aft view. A Borg cube loomed dramatically into sight, dominating the screen. "Fire!"

Four radiant blue bolts flew from the Alexandria's aft torpedo launcher and separated as they followed weaving, spiraling paths to the Borg ship. Two penetrated the Borg's shields and slammed into its hull. Allensworth saw the NX class Enterprise came into view.

"Evasive maneuvers, starb…"

The bone-jarring thunderclap of an explosion cut him off, and the deck felt as if it had dropped out from under him. He fell forward and landed on his forearms. A bank of large companels along with the aft bulkhead blew apart and showered the bridge with a flurry of sparks and shrapnel.

Gray, acrid smoke lingered the shaken bridge crew. "Continue evasive maneuvers." Sparhawk said to Moran. He stepped over to Merriell who was struggling to halt the erratic malfunctions that flickered across the ops console. "Damage report."

"Hull breaches on decks twenty-two and twenty-three. He replied. "Direct hit on our targeting sensors," He swiveled his chair to face Sparhawk and added with alarm. "Sir, we can't lock weapons."

Another shot from the Borg cube rocked the Alexandria.

"Break off. Full evasive. Maximum warp, hit it." Allensworth said.

As Sparhawk stepped quickly from station to station, gathering status reports, Allensworth quickly moved forward and stood beside Merriell's console. In a confidential tone, he said, "Casualty report."

Reciprocating his quiet discretion, he replied, "Four dead in engineering, several dozen wounded. Still waiting on official numbers from sickbay, sir. Might I add, sir, that without our targeting sensors, manually targeting transphasic torpedoes is almost impossible. Without the targeting computer, we'll never adjust the phase harmonics quickly enough."

"Understood." He said.

"Sir, incoming transmission from the Borg." Fulks said.

"On screen."

Merriell pressed a few buttons on his console and the viewer changed to a view of the interior of the Borg cube. A vast chamber crammed with hundreds of Borg drones standing upright in individual alcoves. This is a Borg collective, hundreds of Borg that form a gigantic hive mind. No individual personalities. No feelings. They have only one goal in life and that is to assimilate new races into their collective. To become a Borg is to experience living death. When they speak, they speak as a collective, thousands of voices speaking as one.

"YOUR DEFENSE PERIMETER IS USELESS. YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED."

"Break off your attack." Allensworth said. "By now, you must realize you can't win…"

"YOUR OPINION IS IRRELEVANT. WE ARE THE BORG. RESISTANCE IS FUTILE. YOU WILL BE…"

Allensworth looked to Fulks and did a slashing motion across his neck to signal to the Lieutenant to cut the transmission. Fulks did so and the thousands of voices were cut off instantly.

"We'll see about that." Allensworth said. "Any ideas?"

Fulks spoke up. "Sir, we could launch a shuttle or the Captain's yacht and use its targeting sensors. After we launch the torpedoes, the other ship could arm them and guide them to the target."

Allensworth looked around the room and saw that everyone else was in agreement with the idea.

"Do it."

"Lieutenant Moran and I will go in the Captain's yacht. We'll have to reconfigure the sensors but we'll do that before we launch."

Allensworth nodded. Merriell looked over and saw that Lieutenant Moran had already been replaced by Ensign Stull, an unjoined Trill with a green strip of hair that hung down along the side of her face. He returned his gaze to his console just as Stull glanced over at him.

Lt. Commander Dustin Zofchak dodged through flames and smoke in the main engineering compartment of the Alexandria. He grabbed the sleeve of a passing engineer and spun the dark-haired human woman back to face him.

"Horodyski, shut down the starboard EPS tap, it's overheating!"

"Aye, sir." She said as she sprinted toward the control panel. Zofchak continued on his original path and weaved around a running damage-control team in pressure suits.

The din of system failure alarms, panicked voices, cries of pain and fear, and running footfalls all were drowned out by the overpowering percussive rumble of an energy strike against the ship's hull. A hurricane force gust hurled Zofchak several meters through the air for a few seconds, then it fell away and dropped him to the deck as emergency force fields and bulkheads engaged to isolate the breached compartment a few sections away.

A flash accompanied another ear rending blast, this time from the already overtaxed electroplasma conduit, which routed power from the main reactor to the ship's internal power grid. Its magnetically sealed protective housing cracked and blew apart. The superheated plasma inside jetted like lava from a volcano, engulfing a team of engineers who had been trying to prevent exactly that disaster. Even from a distance, the heat overpowered Zofchak.

The lucky ones nearest the rupture were vaporized instantly, transformed into gases and trace atoms. The handful of technicians and mechanics, who had been behind them were fighting to pull their maimed, burned bodies away from the fiery mess. Most of them had lost their legs in the first half second of the explosion, as the falling tide of plasma cut their feet out from under them.

Another hazard suited damage control team sprinted in from an adjacent compartment. Zofchak pointed to the rupture. "Seal that breach, and raise the force fields!" His skin tingled with pain.

_Great, now we'll all need anti-radiation shots._

He turned around and saw a lot of young engineers and fresh-faced junior officers staring at the wounded and the dead, only a few of his more experienced people minding their posts. He stepped between the young gawkers and the horrifying spectacle and started snapping orders.

"Marasco, rebalance the power load on the starboard PTC. Cartino, make sure the SOF is compensating for the hull breach. Vail, stop chewing your nails and start patching that hole in our shields. The rest of you, back to your stations."

The engineers had just resumed work when another hit by the Borg roared and echoed inside the Alexandria. Zofchak moved at a quick step down the line of consoles , glancing past his people at their work and assembling the glimpses of data into a mental picture of the ship's condition.

As he neared the impulse system's power relays, he was intercepted by Sonya Gomez. The latino woman's uniform was torn and smudged and her face was obscured by dark gray carbon dust. "Commander, the targeting sensors have been almost completely destroyed. Rebuilding them will take up to a day."

Zofchak cringed as a resounding boom shook the ship. He heard the crack of exploding consoles behind him a moment before he felt a blast of heat and the sting of shrapnel on his back. The impact nearly knocked him into Gomez.

"Are you all right, sir?"

"No," Zofchak said, gritting his teeth against the burning pain shooting through shallow wounds on either side of his spine. He turned and looked back at the damage. "Where are the damn medics?"

Moran looked over to Commander Sparhawk to report. "Sensors ready!"

Sparhawk tapped a ready key on his console. It flashed red twice before turning green. "Alexandria confirms. Torpedoes away in ten. Bring us about. We need to get in close and arm the war heads before the Borg realize what we're doing."

Moran threw a look at the first officer that Sparhawk recognized as one of apprehension. Putting them into easy firing range of the Borg was something they wanted to avoid but it couldn't be helped. She kept her objections to herself and resumed directing the attack as if nothing was amiss.

"Five torpedoes away!" She said.

"Acquiring control." Sparhawk said. "Torpedoes armed!" His fingertips danced lightly across his controls. "Target acquired."

The five torpedoes shot through space and headed directly for the cube. At the last possible second the NX-01 flew up and took two of the torpedoes to its hull. The ship magnificently exploded. Blue fire preceded a crimson flash, as the Enterprise erupted into a cloud of blazing wreckage.

"It jumped in the way of the attack." Moran said.

"Don't worry, there are three left." Sparhawk said.

The final three torpedoes shot through the debris of the NX class ship and punched through the shields of the Borg cube and slammed into it. Sapphire flames blazed from the cube's hull, and fissures traveled with surprising speed and ferocity across all its surfaces as it began to tumble through space like a cast die. Explosions peppered its surface, ejecting chucks of his exterior in its wake.

Everyone on the bridge let out a collective sigh. The Borg threat was over but only one problem remained. How were they going to get back home?


	6. Fun Time In Sickbay

Dr. Amanda Plumley moved quickly from one biobed to the next, supervising her staff of surgeons, nurses, and medical technicians as they tended to the scores of grievously wounded personnel being ushered into sickbay by security officers, paramedics and damage control officers. Dr. Phlox was even helping out with what he could. He was already deep into a surgical procedure, trying to stabilaize the vital functions of a Bajoran woman whose legs were gone, sheared away halfway between the waist and the knees, cauterized black and smooth by some hellish trauma.

Walking down the row of biobeds, Plumley saw only more of the same, the brunt and the broken, the amputated and the paralyzed. Her normally antiseptic smelling sickbay was rich with the charnel perfume of scorched flesh and spilled blood. Pitiful moaning, wails of agony, the hoarse exhortations of the suffering and the dying dispelled the quiet ambience she had always taken for granted.

"Doctor Plumley!" A woman's voice called out.

Plumley turned around and saw Dr. Tabar, a dark, short-haired female surgical intern, beckoning her into the triage center adjacent to sickbay. Plumley dodged past a pair of medical technicians carrying a wounded officer on a stretcher to the O.R., brushed a few sweat soaked strands of her dark hair from her face, and joined Tabar.

The patient, a youthful looking man, lay on his side, facing away from Plumley. A jagged length of what looked like a fragment of a metal support beam skewered his torso.

"Fill me in." Plumley said.

"Fell onto a broken railing segment." Tabar said. "The DC team cut him free and left us a few centimeters to grab onto, but it's stuck tight. He's in shock and fading fast. Pulse is one fort and thread, BP fifty over thirty."

Plumley grabbed one end of the man's stretcher and nodded to Tabar to take the other. "Okay, front of the line, let's go." They carried him into sickbay, toward a biobed that had just been vacated. "Does our lucky friend have a name?"

"Lieutenant Coble." Tabar said as they set him down.

Hearing his name enabled Plumley to see past the blood and grime on the wounded man's face and recognize him. He was the ship's deputy chief o security.

"Get a breathing mask on him. Try and bring up his pulse ox while we get a clearer picture of the damage." She called over her shoulder, "We need a surgical arch over here!"

She lifted her medical tricorder, which she kept holstered on her belt during crises like these, and began an exploratory imaging sequence of Coble's torso. "Damn," she muttered. "It's straight through the inferior vena cava." To the unconscious deputy chief of security she added, "You had to make it difficult, did you?"

A pair of technicians, one a blonde human female and a Vulcan male, hurried over with a surgical arch for the biobed. They slipped past Tabar and Plumley, fitted the arch into place, then rushed away as another doctor called from across sickbay for a new pack of hyposprays.

Plumley pwered up the arch, calibrated its settings for human male physiology, and downloaded Coble's medical history from the ship's computer to serve as baseline data. "Activate the delta wave generator and monitor his vitals for me." Plumley said. "I'm about to open the pericardium and put a circular constrictor field around the auricle of his right atrium."

Her touches on the arch's interface pad were delicate and precise. Its noninvasive surgical protocols were state of the art medicine, but only if one knew how to use them. This seemed to Plumley like a good opportunity to pass on some of that skill to her fresh faced intern. "Watch closely," she said to the other woman. "We're going to constrict the auricle and create a virtual venous return catheter from there to the IVC."

The procedure went exactly as Plumley hoped, with the surgical arch manipulating force fields and tissue regenerators in an intricately programmed sequence. "As soon as I detect resistance from the fragment, I want you to use the controls on your side to dematerialize it." She watched Tabar initialize the interface on the other side of the arch. "Ready?"

Tabar nodded and kept her eyes on the controls.

"Okay." Plumley said, watching the resistance gauges creep upward for the constrictor field. "Now."

Tabar tapped in the micro transporter sequence and removed all traces of the intruding metal fagment. As soon as the transporter sequence ended, Plumley finished closing the constrictor field. "All right, the auricle's sealed, the catheter's functional, and we can start doing some repair work." She looked over to Tabar. "Feelup to finishing this one on your own?"

"Yes, Doctor." Tabar said glancing at the display screens on the arch. "I'll need to transfuse him first." She turned her ehad and caught the eye of Nurse Donofrio, who was passing by. "Nurse, prep eight units of A-neg stat." Donofrio nodded her acknowledgement without breaking stride.

"Let me know if you need a hand." Plumley said.

Tabar nodded and continued repairing Coble's wounds as Plumley moved on, back through the chaotic hustle of bodies and equipment. She paused in the open doorway to the triage center, which was packed almost to capacity. Patients lay on beds arranged in long parallel rows. Most of them were unconscious; a few stared blankly at the overhead. Multiple copies of the Emergency Medical Hologram moved from bed to bed, assessing the criticality of new patients as they arrived.

Closer to Plumley, the ship's counselor, Christine Nycz kneeled beside a wounded young medic and conversed in soothing whispers with the shaken woman. Plumley admired Nycz's gentle bedside manner; for a moment she lamented that she lacked the surgical training to do more for the wounded, but then she noted the generally subdued mood in the triage facility, and the she realized that much of it was likely the product of Nycz's calm attention.

From the main sickbay compartment, she heard Dr. Foglesong's voice get louder pitch upward with frustration. She turned back and watched a moment she had witnessed far too many times before: a surgeon fighting a losing battle against injuries so severe that nothing short of a miracle could fix them.

"Push one twenty-five triox." Foglesong snapped at the trio of assistants. "Cortical stims to two eighty-five! Damn it, the artery's bleeding again!"

"V-fib." A medical technician said.

"Charge to three hundred." Foglesong said.

"Belay that." Plumley cut in. "Your patient has total organ failure, and her EEG flatlined four minutes ago." She hated to pull rank, but Foglesong could be obsessive in times like this, and she couldn't afford to let him fixate on one lost cause when there were a dozen other lives in need of his help.

Foglesong stared back at her, wild eyed, and his nurse, his technician and his intern all watched him. Then his shoulders slumped and his head followed. When he lifted his head again, Plumley saw in his eyes that he knew what he had to do.

He shut off the surgical arch. "Time of death, oh two hundred."

His assistants removed the surgical arch and Foglesong waved over a pair of medical assistants to remove the body. Then he nodded to Nurse Filar and said, "Let's go see who's next."

Plumley watched the assistants transfer the body of the dead female engineer to an antigrav gurney. With decorum and gentility they stretched a clean blue sheet over the body from head to toe and guided it away from the living patients, into the recesses of sickbay, to the morgue, where it would be placed in stasis pending its final journey home to its next of kin.

Over the triage center Foglesong and Filar zeroed in on a patient and directed his assistants to move the wounded Bajoran officer to a biobed in sickbay.

_The fight goes on. _Plumley thought to herself.

Then she impelled herself into motion, and summoned medical technician Strnisha to join her as she crossed the compartment to find a case of her own. "Look for critical," she said to the sharp eyed young woman. "I'm in the mood to work miracles tonight."


	7. More Crewmembers

Captain Allensworth sat at the head of the table in the conference room. His senior officers were seated around the table. The Alexandria was almost repaired but they needed to figure out a way to get back to the 24th century. That was the first part of the discussion. The second part was to ask the remaining crew of the ill fated Enterprise if they wanted to stay in this time or if they would want to remain on board and go to the 24th century.

"We need suggestions and ideas on how we get back home." Allensworth said.

At first the senior staff was quiet. Then Zofchak spoke up.

"Sir, I think we can adjust the deflector dish to emit a quantum field that generates the same readings as what we encountered in the Mirai sector. We did a similar instance when I was stationed on the Enterprise-E and we had to create a temporal vortex to return home."

"When the Borg went back to stop First Contact?" Nycz asked.

Zofchak nodded.

"We could return to the point where we entered this timeframe and begin the process there." Merriell said.

"Let's try that." Allensworth said. "Now on to another pressing matter. What should we do with our extra passengers?"

T'Pol, Phlox and Hoshi Sato sat at a table in Ten Forward enjoying some drinks. Hoshi looked around and noticed that all the people in the room were from the Enterprise. She figured that the Alexandria crew was too busy in repairing the ship or helping the wounded. Then her gaze wondered to the room itself.

"This is quite a ship." Hoshi said.

"Yes, this is quite a vessel." Phlox said.

"I wonder what's going to happen to us. Without Enterprise we won't stand a chance against the Xindi now."

"I think you may get your answer sooner than you think." T'Pol said nodding to the door.

Hoshi turned around to see Captain Allensworth and Commander Sparhawk enter the room. They stopped next to the bar.

"Excuse me, Enterprise crewmembers." Allensworth began. The crew of the NX-01 stopped talking and looked at the captain. "Once repairs are finished we plan to return to the twenty-fourth century. However the question remains on what we're going to do with you. We could send you to a planet or if you want you could come to the twenty-fourth century with us. If you want to remain in this time then report to transporter room two."

A MACO raised her hand. The name McKenzie read across her name tag underneath her mission patch on her left arm. Allensworth turned his head towards her.

"Yes? Miss….?"

The blond MACO stood up.

"McKenzie, sir. Corporal McKenzie. If we were to go to the twenty-fourth century, what would we do there? It would appear that MACOs are not needed in your time."

"To be honest, Corporal, that is all up to you." Allensworth said. "You have the liberty and freedom to go wherever you wanted to go. If you wanted to put your MACO skills to good use then Starfleet can always use more officers with special training as security teams or even chief of security or if you wanted to you can stay on Earth and live out your days there, or travel the galaxy. The choice is yours."

McKenzie sat back down satisfied with the response.

"Any other questions?"

Another crewmember stood up. "Sir, will there be a memorial service for our shipmates that we lost?"

Allensworth nodded. "Yes. We can arrange to have one before we leave."

Hoshi turned back to Phlox and T'Pol.

"What do you think?" She asked. "I'd like to stay on board."

"I think it would be a good idea to remain on board." Phlox said. "Apparently I have people after me in this time and if I leave then they wouldn't come after me or come after people I care about."

Hoshi looked to T'Pol for her answer. "This could be a good opportunity to go to Vulcan."

"So you're staying in this time?" Hoshi asked.

"Who said anything about me staying in this time?" T'Pol said.

Hoshi smiled and then stood up to face the captain. "With your permission, sir, the three of us would like to remain on board."

Allensworth nodded. The rest of the Enterprise crewmembers followed suite and wished to remain on board.

"Well, it looks like we'll have to find you all quarters to stay in."

Zofchak and Gomez along with the rest of the Engineering staff worked to get the deflector to emit a quantum field so they could return home. Gomez was the next in charge after Zofchak. She enjoyed working under Dustin; it almost reminded her of working under Geordi LaForge.

"I hear there's a memorial service for the people we lost from both ships at oh nine hundred tomorrow." Sonya said.

"Yeah that's right. We should be done with the modifications by then."

"Is it true that the Enterprise crewmembers are going to be coming with us?"

Zofchak nodded. "Yeah. They've all decided to come back with us so they don't have to live in fear of being eliminated by the Xindi. I just hope things turn out smoothly for them during transition."

"Do you mean going from the ways of living in the twenty-second century to the twenty-fourth?"

"Well sort of. In this century they were at war with the Xindi, they hated the Klingons and had a few skirmishes with the Romulans. While, in our time we are allies with all three."

"I hope nothing happens. I hope that they can get past what has happened to them and accept the change, even if it is very sudden."

"I hope so too."

Crewmembers from both ships sat in chairs in a grassy field covered by a blue sky with a few clouds moving about. The weather seemed like it was mid spring. Everyone, including the Enterprise crew, wore the standard dress uniform. A few trees sprouted from the field providing shade for Captain Allensworth at his podium.

"I never knew the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise. I only read about them and their missions at the academy. Even though this was a different timeline than the one we all know, I'm sure this crew was no different. We lost a group of heroes and they will always be heroes no matter what timeline they are from. Now we will have a moment of silence for those lost."

Captain Allensworth stood to the side as everyone remained quiet. After a few moments Allensworth returned his attention to the audience. "Dismissed."

People stood up from their chairs and departed the holodeck. Some remained after everyone left, it was Hoshi, T'Pol and Dr. Phlox and a few MACOs.

Captain Allensworth sat in his command chair with Commander Sparhawk on his right and Counselor Nycz on his left. Everyone was at their stations and ready to return to the 24th century. He looked over to his chief engineer.

"Dustin, is the deflector ready?" He asked.

"Yes, Captain."

"Activate it."

"Engaging main deflector." Zofchak reported.

The deflector emitted an invisible beam and a circular opening surrounded by green light appeared. The Sovereign class entered the opening and disappeared from space.


	8. The Return

Multiple derelicts of the Dominion War drifted through space in the Mirai Sector. They drifted and collided into each other as if they were still doing battle. The derelicts began to move away from a particular spot as green light began to form. A hole formed surrounded by green energy and a Sovereign class starship came shot through it. Captain Allensworth stood up from his chair and looked at the view screen showing the derelicts. He smiled. He didn't have to ask if they were back yet. The destroyed ships from the war were a good enough sign that they were back in the twenty-fourth century.

"We're back. Lieutenant Fulks, launch a level five warning buoy and access a Starfleet time base beacon. We need to figure how long we were gone."

"Yes, sir." Fulks said pressing buttons into his console. "Information coming in." A look of confusion spread across his face. Allensworth noticed his confusion.

"What's wrong, Lietenant?"

"It would appear that we never left at all, sir. It reads that it is still stardate five seven four three three point two."

"That's the funny thing about time. You go back into the past and stay there for however long and you can come back to the present as if you never left." He turned back around to face the view screen.

"Lieutenant Moran, set a course for Earth, warp six."

"Aye, sir." She said as she entered the commands into her console.

The Alexandria's nacelles flashed brightly for a second and then sent the ship into warp.

_Captain's Log: Stardate 57433.2. We've returned to our own time and back into the graveyard in the Mirai Sector. According to the chronometer of a time base beacon it would appear that we never left at all. However, due to the events that we have witnessed and taken part in and the extra personnel we have received, we definitely have been gone for awhile. The crew of the NX-01 Enterprise has decided stay onboard to come to the twenty-fourth century. I hope they can adjust well to the two hundred year time jump as far as technology and alliances with other cultures go._

Lt. Commander Alex Merriell sat in Ten Forward with Ensign Michelle Stull.

"It's interesting that you're a Trill but have an Earth name such as Michelle. Why is that?"

"Well, I'm only half Trill. My mother is a Trill and my father is a Starfleet officer from Earth."

"Are you still able to join with a symbiont since you're only half?"

"Yeah. People mistake me for being a full Trill because of the density of my spots. I might as well be a full Trill."

Alex nodded. He wasn't sure about what else to ask about her species. He kinda already knew about the Trills because of his friendships with Ezri Dax and Kell Perim. He decided to change the subject.

"So, how long have you been on the Alexandria?" Alex asked.

"I just transferred a week ago from Deep Space Three. It's a lot different being on a starship than it is being on a space station. The only time I was on a starship was when the Thunder Child transported me to Deep Space Three. I graduated from the academy a year after the Dominion War ended."

"So you were there during the Breen attack on San Francisco?"

Stull nodded. "It was a typical day and then the Breen attacked. It was so sudden and terrifying."

"I'm sure it was. Commander Zofchak and I were battling the Breen during that attack. He was on the Enterprise while I was on the Wellington. I was also part of the rescue teams that beamed down to help with the survivors."

"Some friends and I helped a lot of people out of damaged buildings. We probably passed each other and didn't even know it." Stull said.

"For all we know we could've been working side by side." Merriell said with a grin.

Lt. Commander Zofchak walked in through the doors of Ten Forward. He had just come off duty and needed to relax a bit. He noticed Lt. Commander Merriell sitting at a table with Ensign Stull. He was about to join Alex but then decided against it when he saw Ensign Stull. Then he saw a crewmember from the Enterprise sitting alone. It was Hoshi Sato. She just sat there with her head resting on her right hand and her left hand was rotating a glass. She stared out the forward windows. She looked like she needed a friend. He walked up to her.

"May I join you?"

His voice pulled her out of her trance.

"Oh, uh, sure." She said as she sat up.

A waiter came over to the table.

"Your usual, Commander." He asked.

Zofchak nodded and the waiter walked off.

"So, what do you think of the Alexandria?" Dustin asked to start conversation.

"It's a nice ship. Trip would've loved to see its Engineering section."

"I know. It's unfortunate that he couldn't witness it. What are your plans now that you are in the twenty fourth century? Are you going to stay on Earth?"

"I've been in space for the past fourteen years and I feel like I can do more out here. It looks like I have a lot to catch up on."

"Well, if you'd like I can help you with that. Not only am I the chief engineer I'm also the ship's historian. I know a lot about the history of the Federation among other things and will be able to answer any questions you have about the past."

Hoshi smiled. "I'd like that very much. Do I get wear one of those uniforms instead of this one?" She said pointing to her blue uniform.

"Yeah, the replicators will provide a uniform and comm. badge."

"Replicators. I'll have to get used to the idea of those."

"Like I said before, I can teach you."

"I think I might like it here in the twenty-fourth century." Hoshi said before taking a drink.

The End.


End file.
